Charmmie & Ryan // Isle Of Islay Elopement

Sigh… Charmmie and Ryan, Charmmie and Ryan… What can we say about this couple from California except that they were two of the sweetest and funniest people that we’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with on an island for 3 days. Seriously, Charmmie had us in stiches the entire time.

We’ve traveled to the Isle of Skye, The Isle of Mull and other parts of Scotland for elopements and weddings but one place we’d never seen in person was The Isle of Islay. Being a massive whisky geek (Isla has 8 distilleries), this part of Scotland was always on our radar and we were super-excited when Charmmie and Ryan told us of their Scottish elopement plans to fly to Isla and tie the knot.

We caught short flight on a small plane from Glasgow to Islay airport and we can clearly remember being greeted by these guys waving from afar as we walked off the tarmac towards the terminal. Meeting Charmmie and Ryan for the first time was such a cool moment and we knew right away that the next few days with these guys on the island was going to be bloody amazing.

We discovered right away that we all shared a passion for whisky and spent the day visiting a few of the distilleries around the island and soaking in the atmosphere of this amazing part of Scotland. After an afternoon of scouting we found a really cool spot for their ceremony and all went to a local pub for dinner and a few drinks together.

The next morning we visited The Islay Woollen Mill (the guys that designed the attire for ‘Braveheart’ and ‘Rob Boy’) and drove back to the house to get ready. After a super-chilled out morning getting ready together (and one of the most moving ‘first looks’ we’ve witnessed), Charmmie and Ryan tied the knot with a short and sweet ceremony on the majestic cliff sides of Islay.

We seriously love these guys and we can’t wait to see them again this year in their neck of the woods!

One of my *favourite* things about your images is the quiet stillness, and the feeling that I can hear the swishing of grass, or crunching of boots on gravel, amongst it all. Very hard to explain but it's like a multi-sensory experience to look through these pictures and it's something I always really appreciate! Magnificent.

So wonderful to see Islay and my home on your blog. I have recently moved home and started my own flowers and events company and I hope we will have the chance.to work together in the future. If not you can come back and shoot my wedding when the time comes! Really beautiful images, Slainte.

Becky and Mark Hendon said:

Dear Kitcheners, We are Ryan's parents from Northern Virginia, USA, and we want to thank you for the most beautiful chronicle of Ryan and Charmmie's wedding we could have imagined! We felt like we were there! Please visit us in Virginia; we'll get the CA crew here, you can meet my daughter, her husband, and their 3 month old twin girls! We'll have some barbecue, some ribs, some wings, and some beer! Just let us know! Thanks again for a beautiful job!